A good movie

I have always been a fan of Asian movies especially in the 90's. Unfortunately, I don't watch many of those nowadays. Honestly, I'm not really knowledgeable about Zhang Yimou. I mean, I have seen half of his movies but I'm still missing his best movies which he made in the 90's. Anyway, I was definitely eager to check his directing debut, also starring Gong Li in her acting debut as well. First of all, it is a really gorgeous movie to look at. Only for this, it is worth a look. Furthermore, the acting was pretty impressive as well. I mean, Gong Li was only 22 years but she still manage to give a very good performance. It is too bad I only managed to see her recent work because she is a rather fascinating actress. On the downside, I have to admit that the whole thing was rather slow and the story was interesting but nothing mind-blowing. Like many Asian features, there are many cultural and historical references and symbolism that I miss and contrary to Western movies, they don't stop every 5 minutes to explain everything that is going in front of your screen which is actually a good thing but as a result you don't get the whole thing. Still, it remains a gorgeous picture and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Asian movies.

7/10